With the help of a dietitian, we rank mainstream candies in nutritional quality

Halloween isn't kind to adults who care about nutrition, and any attempt to make "better choices" involves analyzing a dizzying array of non-standard serving sizes: Anyone care to compare seven Pixy Stix weighing in at 16 grams to nine Hershey's Kisses topping out at 41 grams?

For aid in sorting out the best picks among mainstream candies, we turned to American Dietetic Association representative Toby Smithson, who swiftly disabused us of the notion that any big-name Halloween treat might qualify as a good source of, say, protein or dietary fiber.

The goal, Smithson informed us, was to minimize the negatives — basically calories — and avoid choices high in saturated fat.

"Size does matter, so go with the fun-size bars instead of the full size," she said, noting that it's a rare person who eats just a third of a bar.

Armed with this information, we hit the shelves at two supermarket chains and computed calories and saturated fat for all the popular Halloween candies available in "snack size" or "fun size" servings.

We set an upper limit of 5 grams of saturated fat per candy bar, or 25 percent of the recommended upper limit for a person consuming 2,000 calories a day. We used real-life serving sizes, except in the case of ties, in which we factored in the number of calories per gram. Our system was not particularly kind to traditional chocolate bars, which had to compete with lower-calorie options such as Tootsie Rolls and Junior Mints.

Dubble Bubble gum was the overall winner across categories, but any choice among the "sugar-based" winners is an effective calorie minimizer — attractively packaged, low in fat and likely to please even the most demanding witches and ghouls.

Halloween strategies

Your child will be thrilled to arrive home with roughly her body weight in Halloween candy. And you? You will be ready to make the best of a minor nutritional crisis with these handy tips from American Dietetic Association spokesperson Toby Smithson.

"It's the parent's responsibility to divvy out the candy, the main point being you don't want to affect your kid's appetite for the nutrition-dense foods, the good-for-you foods," Smithson said.

For active kids, that means 1 or 2 pieces of candy a day, she added.

She also recommended separating the take into two piles, one with candy that little Emily or Ethan actually likes, and one with candy that's less appealing. Toss the stuff that no one's going to eat unless they're desperate or bored.

Finally, remember the freezer is your friend. So is that really high shelf you can access only by standing on a chair.

"There are lots of studies that show if [food] is right there, then they're going to eat it," Smithson said.